To combat Verizon iPhone, rival carriers offer deals

[Shadez]

While customers visited Verizon Wireless stores for a look at the new iPhone, other carriers sweetened their deals.


(CNN) -- With Thursday's release of the iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless, now is a pretty good time to buy a cell phone.

Whether or not you want an Apple phone, cellular carriers are sweetening their deals in the hopes of luring new customers or, at the very least, holding onto the ones they already have.

AT&T Mobility added an attractive new calling plan and is offering some phones for a penny with a two-year contract. This weekend, T-Mobile is flatly giving away every phone in its catalog -- again, only to people willing to sign contracts.

AT&T began offering a program on Thursday that grants customers unlimited calling time when talking to someone who's also on a cell phone. The plan, called Mobile to Any Mobile, is included with AT&T's unlimited text messaging plan, which costs $20 extra per month.

AT&T is also promoting a Super Smartphone Sale, in which the carrier is selling a BlackBerry, Android or Windows phone for a penny in exchange for locking customers into two-year agreements.

A refurbished and "cosmetic blemished" iPhone 3GS can also be had for a penny in this deal. AT&T recently reduced the price of a new iPhone 3GS to $50 with a contract.

One reason for the sale may be AT&T's need to clear inventory to make room for new smartphones using its faster data network. HTC's Inspire 4G goes on sale on Sunday, the same day AT&T begins taking pre-orders for Motorola Mobility's Atrix 4G.

But AT&T, which was the exclusive carrier of the iPhone until last week, is also hoping to mitigate defections now that the largest U.S. carrier by subscribers has cut a deal with Apple. AT&T fired off a marketing blitz last week boasting about iPhone features exclusive to its network.

T-Mobile USA, along with Sprint Nextel, might be more at risk for customers leaving for a highly desirable product (an iPhone) now hitched to a network (Verizon) that's perceived to be very reliable, analysts say.

On Friday and Saturday, T-Mobile stores will offer every phone, smart or not, for free as long as customers sign a two-year contract. The fourth-largest U.S. carrier is painting this as a Valentine's Day promotion, but it's likely that Steve Jobs had more to do with it than Cupid.

T-Mobile also plans to release the Galaxy S 4G from Samsung Electronics this month.
Sprint hasn't gotten aggressive with recent pricing in light of the Verizon iPhone. On the contrary, the third-largest U.S. carrier is moving ahead on an initiative that would increase the monthly price of smartphone customer plans by $10.

On Monday, Sprint unveiled its new Android dual-screen phone, called the Echo from Kyocera.

Even Verizon is looking to capitalize on a hot week for cell phones. As iPhone seekers flocked to its stores, Verizon started taking pre-orders on Thursday for the Pre 2 from Hewlett-Packard. Savvy shoppers would be advised to wait, though. On Wednesday, HP announced that the Pre 3 would be available this summer.


To combat Verizon iPhone, rival carriers offer deals - CNN.com

 

[bazar6]

This is ridiculous... Now seems like the best time to jump off VZW because it sounds like there's gonna be a ton of bandwagon jumpers lol. I'm not leaving tho, they have the best coverage in my opinion. Although I was playing around with VZW iPhone4 last night (boss got it for the dept), it's pretty slick, but still an iPhone, still can't see flash sites... I'll wait for the next awesome (unlocked) Android phone

 

[RockXP]

i'm a verizon customer for 10 years. i was thinking of jumping to tmobile but got mixed feedback from friends. some said its good and other say stay away. Verizon is getting too expensive.

 

[geoff5093]

i'm a verizon customer for 10 years. i was thinking of jumping to tmobile but got mixed feedback from friends. some said its good and other say stay away. Verizon is getting too expensive.

Not when you are able to get the deals and discounts they offer.

 

[kodiak799]

AT&T now offering 1000 free rollover minutes. Humorously ironic, since no one uses their IPhone on AT&T to call people!

 

[sjpritch25]

I understand that Verizon isn't the cheapest, but you pay for what you get. I would pay a little more for better coverage then not.
About new phones, I don't know when I'm going to upgrade. Since, I rooted and installed a new rom on my droid eris. I don't think I will be upgrading until a lot more phones become 4g compatible. I don't like the 4.3 inch screens, they are just to big to fit in my pocket.

 

[kodiak799]

I guess $5 is $5 if you don't travel and AT&T service (or Sprint) is good for you. But VZW unlimited data is worth something, although I suppose most don't come close to hitting AT&T's 2 gig cap.

I think a good number of AT&T refugees are going to be unhappy with the 3G speeds on VZW, unless maybe they had service issues in places like NY or San Fran. But in many respects they are just trading better voice service for slower data speeds, and I think more than a few aren't going to be pleased with that trade-off.

 

[xkape]

17 years on Verizon (it was before the merge... Air Touch Cellular).. back when it was a car phone mounted to the "hump" in the car. I have tried out ATT and I have Sprint for work. Even to this day, Verizon is the only phone that gets a signal at my house. I'm not a fan of standing out on the back porch in the winter in Ohio to make a phone call so IMO, the extra bucks for Verizon is well worth it because I can actually make and receive phone calls.... imagine that. Plus, when you get to a certain point, like I am at, paying $180 versus paying $150.. who really cares.

 

[OneTenderRebel]

You can also go through the iPhone 3gs deals. It is the beat way to grab iPhone at cheap and affordable price. With these deals you can get lots of attractive prizes and offers.

I didn't know spam was an attractive prize.

 

[Trusstopher]

OTR... I think you got turned around in the back alleys of DF... this thread has been dead for six months. I'm actually curious how you found yourself here to comment...

 

[OneTenderRebel]

OTR... I think you got turned around in the back alleys of DF... this thread has been dead for six months. I'm actually curious how you found yourself here to comment...

haha some forum bot posted a response, so they actually revived the thread and I responded to their spam post which apparently has been deleted, leaving me quoting a response that no longer exists thus making me look like a crazed lunatic who quotes ghosts and revives dead threads, haha. Wow that was a long run-on sentence.

 

[Trusstopher]

Ah, that makes a bit more sense... I didn't even take the time to read the rest of the thread when I saw the previous post was in February - I just assumed that the post you were replying too was on up.

 

[nikecar]

haha some forum bot posted a response, so they actually revived the thread and I responded to their spam post which apparently has been deleted, leaving me quoting a response that no longer exists thus making me look like a crazed lunatic who quotes ghosts and revives dead threads, haha. Wow that was a long run-on sentence.

blame the bot.